Resealable closure assemblies have become a fixture of the storage container industry. Thermoplastic bags, in particular, have gone through several stages of closure devices.
It is known in the prior art to provide plastic bags with mating profiles, so that a bag may be sealed by applying force with the fingers to cause the profiles to mate and unsealed by applying force with the fingers to cause the profiles to disengage.
Slider assemblies are also known for achieving sealing and unsealing of suitably fitted plastic bags. Use of a slider facilitates sealing and unsealing of such plastic bags. Slider assemblies include profile strips with male and female elements working in cooperation with a slider that straddles the top of the strips. The slider serves to join the male and female elements together when drawn in one direction, and to separate the profiles when drawn in the opposite direction. Generally, the elements are forced apart, one element at a time, by a separating finger on a top inside panel of the slider.
When a slider assembly is used to seal and unseal plastic bags, an end-stop may be provided to stop the slider from leaving the track. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,131,121 and 5,088,971, both issued to Herrington et al., describe protruding end stops for a plastic reclosable fastener and methods for making such protruding end-stops. U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,286, also issued to Herrington et al., describes end clamp stops wherein two members of the end clamp are held together by a rivet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,478, issued to Richardson et al., describes tubular plastic end stops which are bonded to a plastic zipper. U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,173, issued to Dobreski et al. describes end terminations formed as posts with enlarged heads wherein the posts pass through the male and female tracks near the end region of a plastic zipper. All of these patents require that the end stop or clamps be sealed to both sides of the profile track, either through welding or riveting.